Published by Lyn on 28 March 2013
I came aross artist Pierre Marcel when I emailed him to ask if I could use one of his Flickr photos to help illustrate a cycling in Ile-de-France story about how to get out of Paris by bike. He very generously sent me a message back to say he'd be pleased if we could use his photo and – better still – he uploaded some more photos to his Flickr stream for us. They show him out painting – accompanied by his bike.
Pierre carries everything he needs on his bike. "It's an electric one," he told us, "not very powerful but a help to carry my stuff".
Pierre paints what he sees around his home in Saint-Clair-sur-Epte in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France. "We are at the crossroads of three major regions rich in art history – Ile de France, Picardy and Normandy," he explains on his website.
Auvers-sur-Oise is the one immortalised by Van Gogh's The Church at Auvers, which can be seen at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris (or here). A former home of Van Gogh's – claimed to be his last residence – is also in Auvers-sur-Oise (and open to the public). Paul Cézanne, Charles-François Daubigny and Camille Pissarro were other artists to work in Auvers-sur-Oise.
You can find out more about Pierre and his work at www.lepommier.net or by visiting his Flickr stream.